Thursday, January 10, 2013

Back in CLE! #CLEMarathon

I’m very honored to be selected as one of the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Official Bloggers for 2013. This year, there was more interest from runners to blog about their experiences. So, there was a bit more of a structured selection process. This is the only marathon that I know of that has runners blogging about their training experiences. Behind all of those thousands of participants and thousands of finishing times, there are real stories of triumph!

I’ll get some revenge on the course for last year’s challenging weather woes. It was definitely warmer than the normal Cleveland weather. Everyone likes to get revenge especially when it’s conquering something that beat you down.

I get to see my family. I was born in Cleveland, lived there for the first 5 years of my life and then grew up in North Ridgeville, Lorain County. After I graduated from high school, I spent 8 years in the Air Force. I then found my new home in the suburbs of Dallas, TX. I get back home to Cleveland at least once a year. Lately, my Cleveland trips have been centered around the Cleveland Marathon. That’s a good reason! My sister, Denise has been a pacer for the Cleveland Marathon in previous years. She’s one of the main reasons that I got into this running thing! :)

My 17 year old son will be rocking his first marathon. I’m super proud of Cairo for wanting to take on 26.2 miles. When I was his age, I definitely was not as active as he is. As most know, training for a marathon takes a huge amount of commitment. We’ve definitely discussed what it’s going to take and he’s agreed to the training plan. He definitely enjoys the races more than the boring training. To make training more exciting for him and me, I’m always creating new routes for us to go on. It’s always fun to say, “Cairo, have you ever run on this road?” to which he replies, “Yes… YES, I have!”

We chose the Cleveland Marathon so that he could run it during his off season from Cross Country. It’s hard to build up a base of miles when every weekend you’re running a full speed 5K in the fall.

Marathon Maniac! The Cleveland Marathon will be my 3rd marathon within 90 days which will be enough to entitle me to a Marathon Maniac status. Why do this? I want to tackle this since it’s achievable and I don’t think I’m pushing myself too hard to do it. Here’s my spring marathon race schedule:

I’m so looking forward to running for the above reasons and so many others! If you’re running the Cleveland Marathon, let’s connect via Twitter, DailyMile, and/or Facebook. I’d love to hear from you about your training, goals, and Cleveland Experience!